MERCHANDISE PLANNING

PRICING STRATEGY
Price is the strongest P in the marketing mix of Bata because BATA has had fantastic response
from the market due its affordable and mass market pricing. Anyone can purchase Bata
products easily. Bata uses psychological pricing as its pricing strategy. Bata generally prices a
product to the nearest lower “9” digit figure of the actual price. For example, any commodity
to be prices Rs.200 is priced at Rs.199 to lure and attract more customers. Bata started this
strategy in terms of pricing its products long back, but it is still being implemented in Bata
Showrooms. Apart from this phenomenon, in general Bata prices its shoes very moderately,
and keeps them easily affordable, which is one of the key reasons for its growth. Off course,
the pricing then affects the premium customers and Bata cannot target the premium customers
who think of Bata as a mass market brand and not justifiable to their status. However, this is a
conscious call by Bata because it has some premium products like Hush puppies to drive
margins, whereas other products are mainly present to drive turnover and quantities.

The following are some of the prices set by BATA at its retail stores:
 PROMOTION STRATEGY
BATA India has traditionally spent less than 1 percent of its total revenue on advertising. This
is far less than their competitors who spend anywhere between 5 and 10% of their revenue on
advertising. Location is a mantra for retail success. BATA has banked on building its retail
store presence in middle of bustling bazaars in rural and urban areas and near urban suburban
train stations. Coupling the location with Value for Money shoes for the entire family has
helped Bata sustain itself for three quarters of a century. The target segment for the brand used
to be the lower- and middle-income segment of the population. Like any other retail brand in
the business, BATA too holds sales promotions at specific time periods in the year. These sales
promotions are advertised through different mediums:

1. PRICE PROMOTION: Price promotion refers to price discounting. It is done by

two ways, namely
 DISCOUNTS: - A discount on the normal selling price of the product. For
example Bata a family footwear brand with showrooms all over the city, is
offering discounts ranging up to 50% on shoes, sandals, chappals, ladies
footwear, kid‘s footwear and men‘s footwear. This offer is available at all
Bata footwear showrooms across the country.
 END OF SEASON SALE: - Bata often has End of Season sale which helps
in boosting up the sales figure.

2. SALES at POINT of PURCHASE: Another feature of their sales promotion

strategy is their point of purchase products. Products like Dr.Scholl’s foot cream, Knee
Pain Relief Orthotic, etc. are displayed over the cash counter so as to encourage
customers to make an immediate purchase.

3. CONSUMER PROMOTION:- The tool already in use by BATA India group is

―Bata Gift Vouchers. The design of the vouchers need to be complementary to the
theme used for advertising so as to reinforce the image of the brand. These gift vouchers
have the following features:-

 Convenient denominations
 6 month validity
 Redeemable on all BATA products
 Acceptable at over 1500 Bata stores across India.
4. “99’’ MAGIC FORMULA: The psychological factor of prices ending with 99 gives
the consumer a feeling of a good bargain price as against a cheap prize. Bata India have
cleverly managed to use this strategy to their advantage